


Thank The Melzors

by Jaseish (Kymopoleia)



Series: Take My Hand [4]
Category: LoliRock (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, auriana character study, background levalia, halphas/melzors headcanon, this is.... this is what i am and who i am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Jaseish
Summary: Auriana stands. “I am Auriana, princess of Volta, and I will die for this fight.”“Princess Talia of Xeris,” She offers a smile. “Welcome to the war.”





	Thank The Melzors

**Author's Note:**

> so this includes lotsa headcanons hi  
> hope y'all like it

Myra hangs the curtains with calloused, beautiful hands.

Sara sets the plates, the bangles around her ankles clinking methodically.

Verina stirs the pot for dinner to keep it from burning, humming softly.

Cleo finishes the laundry, tall and graceful.

Kala cups her cheek. “They won’t notice if you leave tonight. If you leave now.”

Auriana closes her eyes and leans into the gentle touch. “Are you sure? Won’t they miss me? Won’t they be angry?”

Kala leans forward to press their foreheads together, breathing gently. Auriana matches her, eyes fluttering shut tenderly.

“You’re the strongest of us, Auriana. You’re a princess. Vania wouldn’t just approve, she’d tell you that it was your duty.”

She was right there. Auriana pulled her bag up, leaning back. “How do you know I can do this?”

“Because I know you. Ever since you came to us you’ve always been the strongest.” Kala leans down to kiss her forehead. “I believe in you. May the Melzors be with you in your journey, and may his forces not find you.”

Auriana nodded, trying hard not to cry.

She turns and slips out the door, the setting sun doing nothing but hiding her form. The cloak around her shoulders, the telltale orange of her hair, the determined glint in her gaze.

The first time Auriana had found her place in the world, it was in the temple.

She’d had to leave home to avoid Gramorr, to save herself, and the first place that didn’t turn her away was the temple.

Akaia had been the leader then, but she’d passed a few years back. Old and graceful, the longest hair Auriana had ever seen. Akaia was the mother Auriana lost to the fire and terror, with hands as soft as a clear spring’s night, with arms strong enough to ward off any bad dreams.

The first night they hadn’t had any rooms prepared so she’d been set up in the main room of the temple. The glossy red stone, polished with age, of the old Voltan Queen was… intimidating at first.

But she curled up in front of her, and she swore she heard a whisper-light voice through the flickering flames of the candles and incense, a gentle breeze through the comforting heat.

‘Princess.’ The statue had seemed to say. Auriana had merely frozen in the moment.

‘Welcome,’ it had continued. ‘You will be safe under my arms.’

Then, as quickly as it’d come, it was gone. The candles all went out, leaving her in the dark.

The next morning had come and Auriana had been standing in front of the statue. She’d carefully relit every single flame, the sootmarks on her hands proof of the hundreds of sparks she’d had to set.

Akaia’s eyes roamed the room, ending on her. Ending on the statue.

“Did she speak to you?”

Auriana had been too starstruck, too busy staring, to reply.

And that was how she became a member of the Temple of Vania.

She learned over time the story, the history of her people. Her parents had been closer to the politics than the religion, and Auriana found it hard to believe that this fact had nothing to do with their untimely imprisonment.

How Vania had stood before the people, that tale came first.

Akaia told it well, shaking her hands at appropriate times and sucking you in until nothing else could suck you back out. She’d have to snap in front of your face to get you back to the realm of the living.

The Melzors.

Auriana closed her eyes, going over the stories in her head. Vania’s crowning, the regal way she’d stood before her people, how she heard of the chaos in the other lands and sought to quell the fear in Volta.

She’d been killed one evening, the stories said. A sword through the back of her chair at dinner, her wine spilling like blood down the front of her gown. She’d been killed for her kindness, Akaia said.

Auriana believed it.

Her father and brothers were dead before sunrise the next morning, her children smothered in their beds.

Auriana pulled her necklace to her lips to press her lips to the charm, the small coin with Vania’s name on it.

Thank the Melzors.

She arrived at the rebel encampment through luck and faith. It was a long trek and she’d nearly gotten caught by sky captains once or twice, but by the time she showed up at the border all she could whisper was her thanks to Vania for getting her there safely.

They checked her things before letting her in, and she went to go speak to the Rebel Leaders.

It’d been a long time since she’d had to introduce herself, since she’d had to be honest.

She twisted her ring on her finger, taking deep breaths.

“Come in.”

Inside the tent there’s three people sitting around a table, one open seat, with teacups. At the back wall a girl leans against the wall, but Auriana can’t see much about her. She hesitates.

“Well, sit down.” The woman in the middle says, gesturing at the chairs. “You must have come a long way.”

Auriana nodded, laughing. “Yeah, I was in Volta.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “Ah…”

The man to her right pours a cup of tea and sets it in front of her as she sits down slowly. The woman on her left raises her eyebrows and takes a sip.

“What brings you to us?”

Auriana took a sip of the tea. “I grew up in a temple.” She leads. “They accepted all kinds of people, often people in need. Girls who’d been hurt, women who needed a place to stay. Women who were angry and wanted to fight. They sent those women to you.”

The three shared a glance. “And who,” The woman on the left begins.

“Are you?” The man on the right finishes.

“I…” She swallows and shows them her ring.

“I am Princess Auriana of Volta!”

They look surprised at that.

No one moves.

Auriana swallows. “Wow, really thought that would get more response. O-kay.” She pulls her hand back to herself. “I’ve been with the temple of Vania since the castle burned, and I realized that I needed to do something to protect them, to protect Volta, to protect Ephedia. I can’t just sit on the sidelines anymore, especially not since I’ve already gone through my shanila. The royals are more powerful than Gramorr thinks, and the more that join the fight…” She nods. “The more chances the rebellion will have.”

The girl on the back wall steps forward, then into the light. “You’ve thought about this very hard.”

Auriana nods. “I wouldn’t have left home if I wasn’t sure.”

“And are you willing to die for what you believe? Die to protect those people that you care about? To save Volta, and Ephedia?” The girl has her hair pulled back into a tight braid, only two long strands in front of her ears and her bangs free. She’s in a loose black tunic, blue pants, white gloves, and on one wrist Auriana can see a Xerin bracelet.

Auriana stands. “I am Auriana, princess of Volta, and I will die for this fight.”

The girl regards her for a long moment before crossing the rest of the room and offering her arm.

When Auriana moves to take her hand, the girl clasps her upper arm and pull her into a brief hug, immediately pulling back.

“Princess Talia of Xeris,” She offers a smile. “Welcome to the war.”

The first rule of the war was that you had to be willing to die for it.

The second rule of the war was that you had to eat as little as you could, save rations for younger or still healing members of the resistance. You had to keep your clothing clean and free of holes, stitching it back together if needed, cleaning your area around your bedroll to prevent mess and disease.

There was a lot that they had lost in the war, and comfort was the main export. Gramorr had a stranglehold on as much as he could get from that cold throne in the capital, and every ephedian who still had an ounce of fight left in them was baring their teeth and chomping at the bit to get back at him.

The third rule of the war was training, lots and lots of training.

Oftentimes, the days ended with Auriana going to bed far past sundown, her body aching and bruises blossoming. They focused primarily on physical training at first, because what good was magic if you couldn’t block a punch?

Days turned to weeks to months to years, and she went from Auriana, a girl who’d grown up in the temple and whose specialties included telling stories and helping with chores, to Princess Auriana, able to hold her own against Talia.

It took a long time, but eventually she got there.

Fighting Talia was, honestly, the highlight of her days.

It could happen at any time, which was annoying at first, but she quickly got used to it.

Talia would toss her a broom, a twist to her lips, and then they’d be sparring.

Sometimes she’d feel a whoosh of air on the back of her neck, duck, and they’d be fighting.

The rest of the rebellion was torn between loving it and hating it, probably thinking that they were selfish and angry. It wasn’t selfishness that drove it, but the fact that they had to be better. Auriana knew that, and Talia knew that, so they fought.

If the girls from the temple could see her now, Auriana wasn’t sure they’d recognize her. She started tying her hair up and started to gain scars, lost some leftover fat from childhood to become lean and muscled. She got stronger and faster, eventually getting to the point where the only person she didn’t outright wipe the floor with was Talia.

She’d been there for five years when the council had an assignment for them.

Talia crossed the tent to her, offering a hand. Auriana looked up at her, blinking in curiosity.

“You’ve come farther these past few years than anyone else I’ve ever known. You can do it.”

It wasn’t often that the icy princess had kind words to say. Auriana smiled and reached forward to grab Talia’s bicep, pulling her into a hug like the other girl had done that first day.

They giggled as they pulled apart, and it wasn’t often Auriana got to hear such sweet sounds.

“You know,” Auriana bit her lip, the other girl turning to look at her again. “I… I think your hair would look a lot prettier without those braids.”

Golden eyes regard her for what feels like forever.

The voltan wonders for a moment if she should have kept her mouth shut.

“Help me remove them?”

Auriana nods.

They spend a few minutes that way, Auriana combing her fingers through Talia’s hair and Talia silently letting her, the light blue spilling out over her back freely. Even though it’d been confined to the braids since Auriana met her, it was still pin straight.

“How does your hair do that?” She finally asked.

Talia turned to her, running a hand through the silky strands. “It just does.”

Auriana nodded slowly. “Well, we should get going, right?”

They transformed and grabbed some cloaks to cover themselves with.

Their mission was to go to the prison and interrupt the check in process for some xerin nobles being brought in. They’d been accused of treason when some agents of Gramorr discovered that they had been hiding resources for the rebellion, and the council wanted to bust them out.

The girls travel quickly and quietly under the crystal roads, following the well-hidden path. It takes ages, but eventually they make it.

The process was completed just outside the prison. The nobles would be stripped of their magic and the magic then held in crystals that decorated the entrance to the prison like strings of lanterns, but it was impossible to get past the entrance. There were too many crystal guards, too strong, to get past or attempt to recover the crystals.

There were three nobles, two women and a man, and Auriana didn’t know their names.

Two crystal guards stood. One held the tool used to strip magic, and was about to lower it to the first woman’s chest.

“Auriana, use your ribbon to rip that tree’s limb down.” Talia whispered. “Quickly!”

Auriana did so, and luckily, the crash caused the guards to turn towards the noise.

The one holding the device said something in the peculiar language the crystal creatures spoke to its partner, and the six-armed creature pulled the nobles to itself.

Talia moved to get up, keeping low to the ground, eyes on the creature with the device. “I will distract it, try to get the other one to release them.”

Auriana nodded, and they separated.

The treeline was close enough for her to see how the creature’s hand was very tightly holding their necks, as if it would crush them at the first sign of trouble. She waited until the first went into the trees on the opposite side, following a line of crashes undoubtedly made by Talia, then caused another closer to the creature.

It turned toward the noise, grunting loudly.

Auriana looked around, then grinned as she got an idea.

She uprooted a bush nearby and tossed it high into the air over the creature. It let the nobles go to catch it, then stared dumbstruck at the chunk of orange crystal in the center.

“Crysto explodium!” Auriana whispered.

The bush shattered in the creatures’ face, the nobles screaming and diving away from the creature. When the dust cleared it only had a few chunks missing from its jaw, but she could see the anger.

Auriana jumped from the treeline and drew back her ribbon to throw it at the creature, easily wrapping around its neck. It stared at her in surprise, and she yelled.

“Get to the trees!”

“- stupid, and reckless, and dangerous, and what were you thinking?”

A healer had Auriana’s arm, pulling the crystals out and using magic to heal it.

“I was saving them.”

And she had.

“You caused and explosion right by their faces! They’re furious!”

“And they still have their magic! And they’re free!”

Talia buried her face in her hands, groaning. “That’s not the point! You’re supposed to prioritize their safety, not do whatever you want.”

“I was prioritizing their rescue!”

“You’re too reckless for this.”

“I got it done!”

“At what cost?”

“My own!”

Talia shook her head. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be taking you with me on the next mission.”

Auriana sat up straighter. “Next mission?”

“Yes. The council informed me when we returned that our actions were merely smoke and mirrors, a distraction. A few more discreet members of the rebellion recovered a spy.”

Auriana blinked at her. “And what did the spy learn?”

Talia looked to the healer, who nodded and left the medical tent.

When they were alone, Talia sighed.

“He snuck into the capital and managed to speak to the king.”

Auriana’s eyes widened.

“They hid the princess on a small planet, earth. We’ve located it and planned a portal to it. As soon as your arm is healed and I get to say a few words to the spy, we’ll be off.”

Auriana stood suddenly, wincing in the pain at her arm. “Can’t I just wear a sling until it’s better? We should go now!”

“I’m not done.” Talia held up a hand. “Your reckless actions dug your own grave. The spy said that due to the information recorded in the sentry’s last moments, Gramorr realized that it was a distraction and sent two agents to the dungeons. They overheard what our spy heard, and are on their way to search for the princess.”

Auriana’s shoulders slumped. “I couldn’t have known that was gonna happen, you have to know that.”

Talia nodded. “I know, I know. Would you walk me, while I meet the spy?”

The voltan blinked at her curiously. Why her?

Talia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “I feel it’s improper to go alone. It’s not anything special, trust me.”

Auriana nodded.

They left the medical tent, and it seemed like Talia knew her way.

They walked in silence, Auriana holding her arm close to herself and hoping that she could finish getting the medical care soon, that they could leave right after that. She was glad to be getting a second chance, but they needed to hurry if they were going to find the princess.

Gramorr’s agents were no joke. Before he was imprisoned to the capital, he raided dozens of cities and stole children from the various magical schools. He valued twins and siblings the most, but none were truly safe from his wrath. He burned volta, xeris, runic, everything in his path. The sky captains had joined his side once he made them an offer they didn’t want to refuse, and the world went from bad to worse.

If Auriana had been old enough at the time, maybe she could have done something. She still remembered Vania’s words, and held her necklace closer, her lip wobbling.

They got to the tent that Auriana assumed was the spy’s, and Talia gave her a sharp look, clearly meaning ‘stay put’.

She moved forward only enough to see the shadows in the tent, hear what the two were saying.

“… can I help you?”

“Princess Talia. I was coming to thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?”

Auriana could see, barely, the lines of Talia’s body, the white of his hair, the white of the bandages around his stomach, her long blue hair.

“For everything you’ve done for the resistance.”

“I wouldn’t thank me, princess.”

“Well it’s my honor to.”

There’s a soft laugh.

Auriana leans forward, trying to hear them better.

“Are you going to go rescue the princess?”

“I intend to.”

“Then show your gratitude through that. Bring her home. Defeat Gramorr.”

“For you?”

If Auriana weren’t mistaken, there’s an undertone to her voice, something amused. If Auriana weren’t mistaken… she’d almost think that the icy princess was flirting. She covered her mouth.

“How about you do it for you, and when there’s that big victory parade, remember me?”

“How about when there’s that big victory parade you’re right beside me?”

Auriana bit her fist. Oh, that was definitely flirting she heard there.

There’s more soft laughter, and she sees Talia reach forward to rest her hand on the spy’s bicep.

“Remember me, when I return?”

“Princess, I don’t think I could ever forget you.”

Auriana splashed water into her face. She looked at herself in the mirror.

The spy had been Lev. How hadn’t she realized it? How hadn’t Talia?

How hadn’t Talia told her that the two had gotten together?

She’d once thought that they were inseparable, that their friendship and sisterhood was tighter than any other. She’d once thought that she couldn’t trust anyone on Earth or Ephedia more than Talia, that no secrets were between them.

But Talia had lied.

And Talia was with Lev, the spy.

She watched the water drip down her chin, curving over her sun-stained cheeks, and all she could think was about Vania, about the Melzors, about her home.

“Vania, if you can hear me,” She clutched the coin with Vania’s visage and open arms close. “I need you.”


End file.
